Rabbeinu Bechayei with a Wonderful Insight from Parashat Vayigash: Share with Family and Friends

Rabbeinu Bechayei provides a brief explanation touching the daily lives of each and every one of us. This time: Parashat Vayigash.

(Photo: shutterstock)(Photo: shutterstock)
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"'I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will bring you back up again, and Joseph’s hand will close your eyes.' (Genesis 46:4).

 

Why does this verse mention 'going up' twice? Rabbeinu Bechayei offers several interpretations. Here is one of them.

Rabbeinu Bechayei interprets the repetition of the phrase 'I will bring you up' as containing two layers of promise:

1. Going up to the Land of Israel after the exile in Egypt - This is the first promise. Rabbeinu Bechayei emphasizes that the Land of Israel is where the main fulfillment of the Torah and mitzvot occurs, and hence the ascent to it symbolizes both physical and spiritual redemption.

2. Ascent to the World to Come - Rabbeinu Bechayei interprets the second ascent as hinting at the World to Come, which is the eternal reward of Israel. He connects it to the words of the Sages that all Israel has a share in the World to Come, adding that this is what Balaam saw in his prophecy when he said, 'Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my ending be like his.' Balaam's words express the fact that only Israel are the inheritors of paradise.

"It could also be explained that the repeated ascent is a promise to his descendants that they will be redeemed after the exile and rise to the Land of Israel, and after they are settled there, where the main fulfillment of the Torah and the commandments is found, he promised them another ascent, which is the World to Come promised to his descendants."

"It hints at what the Sages said, that all Israel has a share in the World to Come, and this is the thing that Balaam the accuser of Israel admitted to against his will and saw in prophecy, when he said (Numbers 23), 'Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my ending be like his.' It hints that none of the non-Jewish nations inherit paradise but Israel, and from this, it immediately connects to (there) 'Behold, a people that dwells alone.'"

In other words, Rabbeinu Bechayei interprets the verse as combining a double promise to the descendants of Jacob: physical redemption in this world (return to the Land of Israel) and spiritual redemption in the World to Come (the share of Israel in paradise).

"And this is why it mentions 'I', for in the merit of the Torah that his descendants are destined to receive, the Shechinah will be with them in the exile of Egypt, and they will merit these two ascents that benefit the body and soul in the two worlds."

Rabbi Zamir Cohen - What is the World to Come, and who is entitled to get there? Watch

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תגיות:Rabbeinu Bechayei Vayigash Redemption

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